by Cherilyn Williams
      NW Trek
      July 3, 2007

     Northwest Trek Wildlife Park will have the most wolverines on exhibit of any accredited zoo in North America . If things progress according to plans, the three wolverine kits born at the park in March 2007 will be coming out from their off-exhibit rearing area and enjoying new digs in the wetlands/forest animal complex at the park on July 5.
     The two males and one female will be next door neighbors to the wolverine juvenile born February 2006.  She was the first wolverine born at the park in its history. The kit was hand-raised last year and is cooperative enough that she is in the rotation for the Trailside Encounters out-of-exhibit programs instituted this summer at Trek. A series of photos from her first year are available on the NW Trek.
     Just to the other side of the 2006 juvenile’s exhibit, the mother and father of the brood have been reintroduced and will remain on display together. Trek staff has unofficially dubbed the wetlands complex “Wolverine World.”
     Wolverines, on the Washington State list of candidate species for endangered status, are usually found in remote sub-artic forests, tundra and mountain wilderness far away from humans. Due to their strength and tenacity, wolverines fear little and have been known to drive bears away from common food sources. However, when they encounter anything completely strange or new like a human, their first reaction is to run. They are extremely intelligent animals and usually live a solitary existence in the wild but prove to be quite social and active day or night in zoological park displays.

     Lumbermens is sponsoring Northwest Trek Wildlife Park ’s Slug Fest for 2007. The festival, full of good humored family fun, has a long history at the park and is a great opportunity for folks to learn a little about conservation and Pacific Northwest ecosystems. Lumbermens’ commitment to the communities it serves and its emphasis on green building practices make it a good partner for the event. The company has donated $4,000 to the park as well as in-kind considerations.
    Lumbermens’ senior vice president, Jon Conde, said, “We are pleased to be able to help Northwest Trek in their mission of environmental education. The Slug Fest is an excellent event for Lumbermens to support family, community and environment in a unique and fun venue.”
   Super-slimy sloppy (human) slug races, advanced degrees in slugology and other whimsical wackiness are the order of the day during Slug Fest, Northwest Trek’s tribute to the misunderstood native banana slug on June 23 and 24. Grown-up gardeners can even get tips on ways to discourage the nasty non-native European slugs from munching the marigolds. Free with park admission. Hours are 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. with trams running hourly.
   Lumbermens is a 68-store chain of contractor-focused building material centers in Washington , Oregon , Idaho , California and Arizona . For more information about the company, go to www.lumbermens.net  

    Imagine looking nearly eye-to-eye with a rubber boa, or seeing a wolverine romping on stump “furniture” while a keeper tells you about its eating habits. Northwest Trek Wildlife Park is adding an element of surprise to the wildlife experience this summer with Trek Trailside Encounters which began Memorial Day weekend.
   “Our visitors will get to see our animals in a whole new way,” said Wendi Mello, the primary presenting keeper. “People really seem to get a lot out of our owl presentations and this will take it to the next level.”
    The presentations are being underwritten by a generous gift of $10,000 from Chiropractic Healthcare in Sumner. “I have always loved Trek, growing up around Puyallup ,” said Dr. Richard Cockrell. “I wanted to support having more programs that would engage children directly and this was a wonderful opportunity.”
   While the park has offered the occasional owl presentation and exhibit-based keeper talk for many years, the Trailside Encounters will include other species like wolverine, skunk, reptiles and other North American natives. Different animals will be stars at each presentation so visitors will be surprised every time.
    The encounters are a great opportunity to talk to a real animal keeper about how the species lives in the wild, what it eats, how it fits in the ecosystem and more. Discovery carts will be stationed nearby with more activities and information.
    New trailside presentation areas have been added near Cheney Discovery Center , the Baker Research Cabin and between the picnic pavilion and Woodland Pond. Beginning Memorial Day weekend, an animal program will be offered at one of the three locations at 11:30 a.m., 1:30 and 3:30 p.m. in addition to the daily keeper talk in an animal exhibit.
    Though only the keeper touches the animals, this is an opportunity for visitors to see the individual animals outside their exhibits. They have been conditioned to being around people, but they are still wild so visitors will be asked to stay at a designated distance from the keeper and animal.
    The presentations are scheduled to be about fifteen to twenty minutes in length. The keeper will be attuned to the behaviors of the animal and, if it becomes stressed, the presentation will end. 

     April 29, 2007: Northwest Trek Wildlife Park held their annual volunteer "thank you" breakfast Saturday morning. Some of the highlights included honoring Connie Hellyer as the person who has volunteered the longest. Connie, almost 93, and her late husband, Dr. David Hellyer, donated their land for the wildlife park in 1971. The park opened in the summer of 1975 and she has been a dedicated volunteer since that time. In the photo above Connie charms one of the men who played doctor and cook for the Trek volunteers.
     Kent Lindt is the volunteer with the most hours. His 472 hours equals two months of full-time work. Total hours for volunteers in 2006 were 15,568 which equals eight people working full-time for one year. Nine new volunteers are in training this year.

     Serving breakfast of French toast, cheesie eggs, sausage, fruit, juice, coffee and tea were, left to right: Dan Belding, aka Dr. Ted Wedbetter; Chip Heinz, aka Dr. Ben Dover Ankoff and Ed Cleveland, aka Dr. Collin O'Scopy. Bobbi Allison, whose mother, Betty Allison, is a long-time Trek volunteer, said, "These guys dressed in scrubs and had a wonderful time teasing the volunteers with free exams of all sorts."

     As the seasons change, so do the hours at Northwest Trek Wildlife Park . For April and May, the park is open 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and until 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Trams leave hourly beginning at 10 a.m.
    For admission prices and more information on special events, visit www.nwtrek.org

       Northwest Trek Wildlife Park is hosting a Migratory Madness weekend May 5 and 6 focused on those fine feathered globe trotters heading back north this time of year. Some of the activities planned by the education department that are included in your admission to the park include:

     With sightings of black bears becoming more common in urban areas of the Puget Sound region, it’s time we learned a little more about our neighbors. Northwest Trek Wildlife Park will present Bear Awareness Day on May 19, wrapping up a week of bear emphasis at the park. 
     Throughout the week, visitors can enjoy bear crafts, the Survival of the Fittest Bear game, the Going on a Bear Hunt game, bear story time, videos and more. 
     On Saturday, May 19, a teddy bear clinic will be set up in Cheney Discovery Center for children to bring their stuffed companion in for a check up. The first 200 will receive a bear health kit. At 11 a.m., the black bears will show just how quickly an ursid can trash a back yard setting and at 1 p.m. the grizzlies will tackle a "bear proof" container. All activities are free with admission to the park of $13.50 or less.

     Northwest Trek announced the birth of three wolverine kits in late March. The mother wolverine and her kits are off exhibit in their den and can't be disturbed for at least five weeks, until the kits  have their eyes open and are walking.
     The wolverine family is being closely monitored by video camera in the wildlife park's animal health area. The animals won't be on public display for several months.
     The mother had two kits in February 2006. One died after a few days. The surviving female was hand raised by keepers and is nearly full grown. She will be part of the park's increased trailside animal presentations this summer.
      Wolverine births in zoos are relatively rare. Last year's kits were the first in the history of Northwest Trek which opened in 1975. Only ten accredited zoos in North America, including Trek, exhibit the species.
       Wolverine kits aren't the only babies born at Trek. Three beaver kits were born March 6.